Auditor Industry Specialization Research Articles

A Matter of Appearances: How Does Auditing Expertise Benefit Audit Committees When Selecting Auditors?†‡

ABSTRACTLiterature to date reveals relatively little about the role of expertise in auditor selection beyond basic preferences for Big 4 and industry specialist auditors. We hypothesize that audit committees whose members have no Big 4 auditing experience are likely to struggle when interviewing prospective Big 4 partners, leading such committees to draw on superficial, heuristic cues in lieu of conducting more substantive evaluations. To test this prediction, we obtain independent ratings of the facial attractiveness of audit partners identified from Form AP filings recently mandated by the US PCAOB. Our primary finding is that audit committees with no Big 4–experienced members are more likely to favor partners whose photographs raters view to be highly attractive. We characterize attractiveness as a superficial attribute for auditor selection because we detect no relation between attractiveness and accruals‐ or restatement‐based measures of financial reporting quality for audit committees with one or more Big 4–experienced members. We do find an inverse association between attractiveness and financial reporting quality for committees without this experience, likely reflecting the statistical implication of a selection bias. We conclude that auditing expertise mitigates the influence of superficial considerations in auditor selection, enabling audit committees to fulfill their stewardship role more effectively.

Analysis of effects of Earnings Management on Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosures and role of Audit Quality on the IDX

This study aims to examine and analyze empirically the effect of earnings management on Corporate Social Responsibility disclosure and the role of audit quality as proxied by the size of the accounting firm and auditor industry specialization in moderating the relations between earnings management and CSR disclosure. This study uses secondary data with samples of 69 manufacturing companies in the basic industry and chemical sectors listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange from 2017 to 2019 which were obtained using purposive sampling method. The independent variable in this study is earnings management with Discretionary Accruals as proxy which measured using Modified Jones Model. While the dependent variable in this study is the disclosure of Corporate Social Responsibility, which is proxied by CSR disclosure index (CSRI) measured based on indicators of GRI-G4 disclosure. The moderating variable in this study, there is audit quality as proxied by the size of the accounting firm and auditor industry specialization which is measured using dummy variables, the value of 1 is for The Big Four KAP and auditor industry specialization, while the value of 0 is for Non The Big Four KAP and unspecialized industry auditors. The analysis of data in this study is using a simple linear regression model and Moderated Regression Analysis (MRA) to decide the hypothesis. The value of 1 is for The Big Four KAP and auditor industry specialization, while the value of 0 is for Non The Big Four KAP and unspecialized industry auditors. The analysis of data in this study is using a simple linear regression model and Moderated Regression Analysis (MRA) to decide the hypothesis. The value of 1 is for The Big Four KAP and auditor industry specialization, while the value of 0 is for Non the Big Four KAP and unspecialized industry auditors. The analysis of data in this study is using a simple linear regression model and Moderated Regression Analysis (MRA) to decide the hypothesis. The results of this study reveal that earnings management has a positive and significant effect on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) disclosure and the size of the accounting firm (KAP) variable can be a moderating in the relations between earnings management and CSR disclosure. Meanwhile, the auditor industry specialist variable can't moderate the relations between earnings management and CSR disclosure.

Tenure audit effect on timeliness of financial statement publication with industry specialist auditors as moderating

This study aims to empirically examine the effect of tenure audits on the timely publication of financial statements moderated by industry specialist auditors. This study uses a sample of 726 Firm Years, which were obtained through a purposive sampling method from companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange in 2018-2020. This study uses the method of Sub-Group Logistic Regression and Sub-Group Moderation in testing the hypothesis. The results of this study indicate that audit tenure has a negative effect on the timeliness of financial statement publications. This means that the longer the audit period of an auditor, the publication of financial statements will be relatively less timely. The results of this study also show that industry specialist auditors are able to moderate the relationship between audit tenure and the timeliness of financial statement publications. This means that the influence of audit tenure on the timely publication of financial statements in the industry specialist auditor group is greater than in the non-industry specialist auditor group. Therefore, the more specialist the auditor, the stronger the influence between audit tenure on timeliness.

Can Patent Quality Alleviates Information Asymmetry in Chinese Intellectual Property Market: Evidence From Auditing Field

Due to the lack of professional knowledge, auditing innovation quality has always been a big problem for auditors. Patent citation is a new and informative signal. We hope this signal can help auditors reduce the lack of professional knowledge and reduce the audit input of innovation quality. By examining Chinese non-financial firms between 2011 and 2019, we use patent citation as the proxy of patent quality and find that firms with higher patent quality have lower audit input at the same level of R&D expenditure. Further tests show that the signaling effect of patent quality is limited. Patent quality signals will work when the audited firm is a high-tech enterprise, or when the Key Audit Matters (KAMs) involve items such as R&D expenditures. But the auditor industry specialization can replace the influence of patent quality. Our results imply that auditors can use patent quality as a signal to reduce the difficulty of obtaining information and risk evaluation. Firms should focus on the quality of patents and display their innovation capabilities through the intellectual property (IP) market. China should strengthen the protection of private rights and continuously enhance the supporting mechanism of IP market.

Does earnings management mediate the relationship between audit quality and company performance? Evidence from Jordan

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to look at the direct relationship between audit quality, earnings management (EM) practices and company performance, as well as the indirect influence (mediation) of EM practices in the relationship between audit quality and company performance. It offers empirical evidence from the Jordanian market, which is considered an emerging market.Design/methodology/approachThe population of this study is represented in Jordanian service companies listed on the Amman Stock Exchange (ASE), with a total of 344 company-year observations. Furthermore, panel data analysis was used in this study, and data for the study were acquired from yearly reports as well as the ASE’s database.FindingsBased on generalized method of moments model, the present findings demonstrate that the size of the audit firm and the tenure of the audit firm have a positive and negative influence on EM practices, respectively, but that industry-specialist audit firm has a negative and insignificant effect. EM practices have a negative impact on two company performance proxies (ROA and ROE), but have no effect on earnings per share (EPS). Furthermore, the size of the audit firm has a positive and significant influence on the performance proxies of the company [i.e. return on assets (ROA) and return on equity (ROE)]. The presence of an industry-specialist audit firm has a positive and significant influence on two proxies of company performance (ROE and EPS), but a negative and significant impact on ROA. An audit firm’s tenure has a negative and significant impact on two performance proxies (ROA and EPS), but a positive and significant impact on ROE. Then, EM practices either fully or partially mediate the relationship between audit quality proxies and company performance as assessed by ROA, ROE and EPS.Research limitations/implicationsThe current study’s limitation is that it only searched in Jordanian service companies listed on ASE from 2012 to 2019 to meet the study’s objectives; thus, the authors recommend that future work investigate the study model for other sectors, whether in Jordan or other emerging markets such as the Middle East and North Africa. Another limitation of this study is that the study models lack important variables, which may affect EM and company performance, such as corporate governance and ownership structure characteristics; as a result, the authors recommend that future work includes such variables in future research models to have more explanations in this context.Practical implicationsAnalysts, investors and other strategic decision makers may use the findings of this study to improve the efficiency and efficacy of Jordan’s financial market. These findings will enhance policymakers’ willingness to establish appropriate regulations, which might improve Jordan’s financial market performance and efficacy. These findings may help investors make better judgments by using audit quality proxies and EM indicators, which can forecast business success.Originality/valueFirst, this study distinguishes itself from prior studies through establishing a new research model, by investigating the mediating effect of EM in the relationship between audit quality and company performance. It provides empirical evidence from the Jordanian market; hence, it increases the body of the knowledge in this context. Second, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to look into the link between audit quality, EM and company performance together; hence, the model of this study is developed using agency theory and information asymmetry theory. Third, the current study adds new evidence to the role of audit quality and EM in companies, as well as how audit quality and EM practices affect company performance in emerging markets such as Jordan.

The Value of Auditor Industry Specialization: Evidence from a Structural Model

ABSTRACT This study investigates the value of auditor industry specialization. In the first step, we use a discrete choice model to derive the first-order demand for auditor industry specialization. Our results reveal that clients have a general preference for auditor industry specialization, relating to both audit firm and audit office specialization. We observe that specializations at the audit firm and audit office level are substitutes. We also find that larger, more complex clients have a stronger demand for industry specialization at the audit office level. In the second step, we use the results from the discrete choice model to quantify the value of auditor industry specialists for clients. We find the overall value of industry specialization aggregated across all clients is 5.2 million USD (0.36 percent of audit fees) and that industry specialization at the firm (office) level is decisive for auditor choice in 4 percent (6 percent) of all cases. JEL Classifications: M42; M48; L11; L84.

The Joint Effects of Audit Committee Financial Expertise and Auditor Industrial Expertise on the Quality of Earnings

Purpose: The aims of this study are to investigate the joint effects of financial experts on audit committees (ACs) and industry expert auditors on earnings quality, and to investigate whether the joint effects differ based on subtypes of financial experts on ACs and the mixture of those subtypes. Design/methodology/approach: This study measures AC f inancial expertise and auditor industrial expertise using indicator variables. To measure the quality of earnings, this study employs the approach of Kothari et al. (2005). Findings: The study finds evidence that only the interaction between AC financial expertise and auditor industrial expertise has a positive effect on earnings quality. Specifically, earnings quality improves only when firms have accounting professors or finance experts (excluding finance professors) on ACs, and at the same time, when firms receive external audit from an industry specialist auditor. The study also finds that the positive association becomes obvious when ACs have both accounting and non-accounting experts. More importantly, the positive association is stronger when ACs have both non-accounting experts and more than one type of accounting experts. These results suggest that it is crucial that internal and external audit functions work cooperatively rather than separately, and that ACs include both non-accounting experts and several types of accounting experts. Research limitations/implications: The effects of AC financial expertise on accounting information quality may vary depending on how ACs are actually operated. Thus, it would be worthwhile for future research to explore the effectiveness of ACs in consideration of the operation of ACs. Originality/value: Contrary to prior research, this study examines the interplay of AC financial experts and industry specialist auditors. In addition, this study examines the interplay by using subtypes of financial experts on ACs and the combination of those subtypes. This study can be valuable to policy makers, academicians and investors by providing a more comprehensive view of the effectiveness of internal and external audits.

High investor sentiment and initial engagement discounts: evidence from Korea

ABSTRACT This study examines whether high sentiment affects auditors’ risk assessment in a less litigious environment. Specifically, we use a Korean setting with relatively low litigation risks and investigate whether audit fees are lower when firms change auditors during high sentiment times. Lower audit fees responding to high sentiment in a weak legal environment may indicate that auditors perceive the overall audit risk including reputation risk and regulation risk as low within the given period, increasing the possibility of their failure to detect managerial opportunistic behaviour. Using 17,469 Korean public firm-year observations from 2003 to 2017, we find that initial audit fees are significantly lower when investor sentiment is high, while changing auditors has no influence on audit fees when investor sentiment is low. Furthermore, this result is maintained even when auditors are changed to Big4 or industry specialist auditors (SPEC), which are known to have high ability and risk sensitivity. We also find that Big4 and SPEC initial auditors input significantly less audit hours during high investor sentiment periods, suggesting that optimistic bias caused by high sentiment makes auditors expect that relaxed audits are tolerable regardless of the legal environment.

LGBT(Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender)- Supportive Corporate Policy and Audit Fee

This study investigates the relationship between Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) supportive corporate policy and audit pricing using U.S. firms’ data from 2000 to 2011. Prior studies show that firms embracing diversity, including LGBT-supportive policy, enhances credit rating and earnings quality. Despite its growing importance of diversityrelated LGBT-supportive policy, less attention is paid to the LGBT-supportive firms and its effect on audit pricing. Our results suggest that, LGBT-supportive firms demand high audit quality and pay higher audit fee than firms that do not adopt LGBT-supportive policies. We conduct instrumental variable analyses and propensity score matching analyses to mitigate endogeneity and test results reinforce our main results. Further we find that LGBT-supportive firms appoint city-level industry specialist auditors, which supports our audit demand hypothesis. Overall results suggest that LGBT-supportive firms demand high-quality audit and pay high audit fees by appointing high-quality auditors to provide transparent and reliable financial information which would satisfy various stakeholders‘ information needs. Our study has practical and policy implications for auditors and regulators by identifying new determinants of audit fee and auditor choice decisions using U.S. data.

Determinants and consequences of noncompliance with the 2013 COSO framework

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) requires firms to use a “suitable framework” as a basis for evaluating the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting. The COSO 1992 framework was the most commonly used suitable framework until it was superseded by the COSO 2013 framework. Because strict compliance with the updated framework was not enforced by regulatory authorities, a nontrivial number of firms did not comply in a timely fashion. We investigate determinants and consequences of noncompliance with the COSO 2013 framework following the supersession of the COSO 1992 framework. We find that noncompliance is positively associated with proxies for resource constraints, financial distress, and a weak internal control environment, and negatively associated with auditor industry specialization, board size, and audit committee accounting expertise. Further tests suggest that following supersession of the 1992 framework, investors view quarterly earnings surprises of the noncompliant firms to be less credible and that noncompliance increases regulatory scrutiny. Finally, we find some evidence that accounting conservatism increases after supersession of the 1992 framework for compliant firms relative to noncompliant firms, suggesting that noncompliance can delay the potential benefits of implementing the updated framework.

Pengaruh Audit Tenure, Kualitas Laba Dan Auditor Spesialisasi Industri Terhadap Audit Delay

Audit delay is the time span between the closing date of the financial statements until the date of the independent audited financial report signed by an independent auditor. This research was aimed to examine empirically the effect of audit tenure, earnings quality and auditor industry specialization as independent variables on audit delay as the dependent variable. The data used in this research are financial reports on manufacturing companies in the property, real estate and building construction sectors listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange in the 2018-2020 period. The selection of this sample using purposive sampling method and then obtained 81 samples of observations. The data analysis method used multiple linear regression analysis. Hypothesis testing on the t statistical test showed that audit tenure had no effect on audit delay, while earnings quality had a positive effect on audit delay, but auditor industry specialization had a negative effect on audit delay.

Does Industry Specialist Auditor Provide More Insights in Their audit report? An Empirical Study of Key Audit Matters Section

Abstract In 2015, International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) released new International Standards on Auditing 701 and required auditors to disclose key audit matters (KAM) in the audit report. Similar standards were also released in the United States in 2017 and the United Kingdom and Ireland Financial Reporting Council (FRC) in 2014. As KAM are expected to inform on matters of the greatest significance during an audit, before exploring the question regarding whether investors will obtain useful information from additional matter disclosures, the anterior consideration may be in regard to how audit quality affects the disclosure quality of KAM. This study use hand-collected data of the KAM disclosed in the audit reports of Taiwanese listed companies in 2016 to explore the association between auditor industry specialization and audit quality by the disclosure of KAM in new audit reports. The empirical results show that the association between the industrial specialist audit partner and the measurement of KAM quality is significantly positively related. The findings support our hypothesis that specialist auditors’ KAM are more informative than those issued by non-specialist auditors, and provide new evidence supporting prior studies about the superior auditing ability and disclosure quality of auditor industry specialist. Keywords: Key Audit Matters, KAM, International Standards on Auditing 701, International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board.

Determinants of Real Earnings Management in A Developing Economy: The Risk Structure and Audit Quality

Firm’s risk structure and audit quality are considered as two of the most important factors which affect earnings management. Thus, this study aims to examine how the risk structure and audit quality affect real earnings management from the context of a developing economy. The risk structure in this study is classified into operational risk and financial risk which are proxied by Degree of Operating Leverage (DOL) and Degree of Financial Leverage (DFL), respectively. Audit quality is measured by Big-N audit firms clients and auditor industry specialization. This study employs the Roychowdhury real earnings management model which comprises of sales manipulation, discretionary cost reduction, and overproduction. This study’s sample is 219 firm-years of manufacturing companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange between 2014 and 2016. The results show that auditor’s affiliation with Big-N audit firms are more effective than industry specialization in reducing real earnings management practices.

Industry specialist auditors and affiliated business groups: An examination of fee lowballing and audit quality

We examine the lowballing fee strategy of industry specialist auditors and their related audit quality, for engagements with affiliated business groups (ABGs) in Taiwan. Taiwanese auditors must sign their audit reports. This enables us to identify specialist audit engagement partners and examine their association with fee strategies and audit quality for specific clients. ABGs are generally large and complex and have extensive related‐party transactions. This elevates the levels of audit risk and audit effort and suggests a need for higher fees. Industry specialist auditors generally do not need to lower their fees to compete for clients. Yet, for new ABG clients, we find they are associated with lowballing, especially for ABGs with high business‐relatedness. We do not find evidence of lower audit quality for these new ABG clients. We thus conclude that industry specialist auditors evidently anticipate higher future value from increasing their market share among certain ABG clients.

Control-Ownership Wedge and Industry Specialist Auditor

This study extends agency theory by explaining the client's understanding of audit quality. This study contributes to the audit literature by examining the effect of wedge control-ownership on industry specialist auditors that have not been researched in Turkey. The interests of minority and controlling shareholders are not completely compatible. The research analysis method used a logistic regression model, finding that firms that practice a larger difference between control rights and cash flow rights tend to prefer high audit quality measures by industry specialist auditors. This study encourages regulators to improve law enforcement to enhance the role of corporate governance in Turkey to address the features of ownership-control firms and offer a suitable environment for investment and minority shareholders.

Role of Auditor Specialization in Moderating Corporate Governance and Quality of Audit Reporting in Indonesian Manufacturing Companies

This study aims to examine the effect of corporate governance mechanisms on audit reporting. Whereas the specific purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of the number of audit committees, the role of independent (non-executive) board members, institutional ownership, and ownership concentration on the quality of audit reporting. Besides, this study also examines whether the role of the external auditor's reputation can moderate the relationship of corporate governance mechanisms to the quality of audit reporting. The results of testing of 189 units of analysis of manufacturing companies in Indonesia, obtained evidence that the size of the board of commissioners, the proportion of independent commissioners, institutional ownership influential and significant effect on the quality of audit reporting. Meanwhile, the audit committee, auditor industry specialization, ownership concentration proved not to affect the quality of audit reporting. For testing the external auditor's moderating variable reputation proxied by industry specialization, it turns out that only the relationship between the size of the board of commissioners and ownership concentration on audit reporting quality is proven to be moderated by the auditor industry specialization.

Product Market Competition terhadap Audit Fee dengan Auditor Industry Specialization sebagai Pemoderasi

This research aims to examine the influence of product market competition on audit fees and the role of auditor industry specialization as a moderating variable. Using probability sampling method, 1,018 non-financial companies listed on Indonesia Stock Exchange from 2014 to 2018 were selected as research samples. Multiple linear regression was used to analyzed the data. The results showed that product market competition has a negative significant effect on audit fees, while auditor industry specialization has a positive significance or weakens the relationship between product market competition and audit fees. In other words, auditor industry specialization stimulates the increase audit fees even in a competitive market.

MD&A readability, auditor characteristics, and audit fees

AbstractThis paper investigates the relationship between audit fees and MD&A readability in China. We find that audit fees generally are higher when MD&A readability is lower. However, we find Big4 auditors and industry specialist auditors do not increase audit fees when MD&As are less readable while the other auditors do. We also find that it is the content unique to the reporting firm, rather than standard industry and market content in a MD&A that affects auditor fees. Our results also support that audit risk and audit efforts are two channels through which MD&A readability affects audit fees.

External audit quality and clients' corporate governance mechanisms in Nigeria: Any nexus?

This study examined the influence of an entity's corporate governance practices on independent external auditor quality, proxied with auditor industry specialization, in Nigeria. The explanatory research design was adopted. Data were sourced from annual reports and accounts of thirty-five (35) quoted non-financial firms for 11 years from 2008 to 2018. After that, panel regression analyses were employed as the estimating technique for the model specified. The empirical results revealed that independent external audit quality is positively influenced by the firm's size but negatively influenced by board Independence and the proportion of female directors on board. Overall, aggregate explanatory variables adopted in this study accounted for 50% changes in external audit quality. Though these findings largely negate previous ones, they contribute to the extant literature and provide further directions for a future attempt at researching within emerging territories.

글로벌 산업전문 감사인의 감사보수 프리미엄과 감사품질

본 연구는 한국의 감사시장에서 글로벌 산업전문 감사인이 감사보수 프리미엄을 받는지 여부와 고품질의 감사를 제공하는지를 살펴본다. 이 분야의 국내 선행연구는 산업전문감사인이 고품질의 감사를 제공하고, 그 대가로 더 많은 감사보수를 받는다는 것을 보여준다. 그러나 이러한 연구에서 감사인의 산업전문성은 국내시장점유율에 기반한 측정치이지 글로벌 수준에서 측정된 지표가 아니다. 글로벌 회계법인 네트워크는 감사인이 산업전문성을 획득할 수 있는 경로를 국내고객을 넘어 국외의 제휴된 회계법인과 그 고객까지 포함하여 감사인의 산업전문성의 개념을 한 국가 수준에서 글로벌 수준으로 확대시키고 있다. 본 연구는 한국의 감사시장에서 고객회사들이 글로벌 산업전문성의 가치를 어떻게 평가하고 있으며, 글로벌 회계법인 네트워크 내에서의 산업고유 지식의 활용이 감사품질에 어떠한 영향을 미치는지 실증적으로 살펴본다. 이를 위하여 본 연구는 2015년부터 2017년까지 유가증권 및 코스닥시장에 상장된 비금융, 12월 결산법인 4,766개의 기업-연도 표본을 이용하여 글로벌 산업전문성과 감사보수 및 (재량적 발생액으로 측정된) 감사품질과의 관계를 살펴보았다. 본 연구에서 감사인의 산업전문성은 고객회사의 매출액 기준 시장점유율을 이용하여 측정하였다. 실증결과 글로벌 산업전문성만 있는 감사인은 감사보수 프리미엄을 받지는 못하지만 양질의 감사서비스를 제공하는 반면 한국의 산업전문성이 있는 감사인은 감사보수 프리미엄을 받지만 이에 상응하는 높은 품질의 감사서비스를 제공하지 않는 것으로 나타났다. 본 연구는 글로벌 산업전문 감사인과 한국의 산업전문 감사인의 감사보수 및 감사품질을 비교 분석함으로써 한국 감사시장에서 글로벌 수준의 산업고유지식의 활용정도와 그에 대한 고객회사의 평가를 살펴보았다는 점에서 의의가 있다.